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Sunday, April 29, 2012

She was our beloved mother, grandmother and friend; she went to heaven to join her Lord; her husband, Larry and son, Tim.

Donna was born in Akron, Ohio and lived most of her life in Barberton, Ohio, she was a graduate of Coventry High School with honors. Donna retired from Louisiana Pacific after more han 25 years of service. She was a member of Southwest Church of Christ and Barberton YMCA, participating in the Silver Sneakers exercise group. Donna volunteered twice a week at Summa Barberton Citizens Hospital. She was an avid bowler for most of her life and enjoyed knitting, reading and Las Vegas.

Donna is survived by her daughter, Joy (nee Furman) (Richard) Zelovic of Doylestown; grandchildren, Sarah (nee Zelovic) (James) Conner of Fairlawn, Ohio, Justine Zelovic (Ryan Haas) of Florida, Matthew, Krista, Danny and Allysa all of Pennsylvania and three great-grandchildren. She also leaves behind her very best friend, Brenda Halcomb.

In following Donna's wishes, there will be no services. Cremation has taken place. A private graveside service will be held at a later date. In Donna's memory donations may be made to her husband's charity, Larry Furman Diabetes Fund, which is run by the Barberton Community Foundation, 460 W. Paige Ave., Barberton, Ohio 44203, or to a charity of one's choice.[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Sunday, April 29, 2012, page B6, col. 2]

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A survey ranking journalist as the fifth-worst job to have in 2012 has been getting a lot of attention, in case you haven’t noticed. The report, by CareerCast, says being a reporter at a newspaper, magazine or TV show is worse than waiting tables and only a tiny bit less lousy than working on an oil rig. Blame the combination of high stress and scarce career opportunities.

Inadvertently, all this survey does is highlight the truth: Being a journalist is the best. That’s all there is to it. Yes, there are too few really good jobs and too many people fighting for them. Yes, salaries start out quite low. Yes, the hours can be long and irregular. Yes, the industry is in a period of extreme disruption, with lots of old jobs being destroyed, and the new ones typically offer less security and require different skills.

None of that changes the core fact here. For those who are cut out for it — and that’s definitely not everyone — journalism is a uniquely rewarding, wonderful career.

-You’re always learning.-You get paid to read a ton..-You get paid to meet interesting people.-You get to meet celebrities.-Maybe you even get to enjoy a little celebrity.-All that “stress”? It’s called excitement.-Journalists get around.-And then there’s the small matter of self-expression. Read all about itin Forbes magazine

Friday, April 20, 2012

Can you (or someone) enlighten us about the recent pension letter from Aaron Burr. I could swear we got a similar letter last year, and this letter references 2011? I'm confused, but the 75 percent investment figure for pensions looks not good.

char

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Lisa in the BJ's Human Resources Department says the letter is just "a legal requirement." Later, when I talked to Aaron Burr, head of BJ's Human Resources, he said in his Oklahoma accent (because he's from there) that the underfunding notice has been required since 2008. I remember getting the same notice last year.

The BJ pumps assets into its pension fund through Wells Fargo, successor to the earlier Northern Trust Bank. The problem with most pension funds in America is that companies use their own stock to fund the pensions. When the stock prices dive, as newspaper stocks have, the assets shrink accordingly. The BJ has 100% of its pension funding from common/collective trusts.

According to a January story by Reuthers news agency, 97% of the 341 companies in the S & P 500 index with defined benefit pension plans are underfunded.

The U.S. government recommends at least 80% funding of the pension plans. The BJ's funding dropped below 80% to 73.95% in 2011.

There are 326 people receiving BJ pensions, another 194 who are entitled to pensions in the future and still another 174 who are building up their pension credits while working at the BJ.

In 2011 the BJ pension fund had $40.9 million in assets and $55.3 million in liabilities, which includes future pensioners.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

While McClatchy is jettisoning hundreds of reporters and other employees, it paid McClatchy vice president Anders Gyllenhaal, overseer of the layoffs, $1.3 million last year. Gyllenhaal went to McClatchy in 2010 from Miami Herald executive editor.

CEO Gary Pruitt, who is leaving to head the AP, got $4.3 million in compensation.

Former Beacon Journal television critic Mark Dawidziak will be resurrecting his in-costume and in-character portrayal of author Charles Dickens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 24 at the Cuyahoga Falls Library, 2015 Third Street,

Dawidziak, currently the Plain Dealer's television critic, also will be presenting this program at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 22, in meeting room A and B of the Lee Road Branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.

This is the 200th anniversary year of Dickens' birth -- Feb. 7, 1812. Dawidziak has been portraying Dickens for more than a decade.

After the free Cuyahoga Falls performance, Dawidziak will take questions about Dickens’ life and career. For more information, call 330-928-2117 or visit cuyahogafallslibrary.org.

Registration is required for the Cleveland Heights performance. Call 216-932-3600 or visit heightslibrary.org.

Dawidziak is artistic director and co-founder with wife Sara Showman of the Largely Literary Theater Company which has done Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain portrayals and plays over the years.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Would you believe there are just four job worse than being a newspapers reporter?

CareerCast.com ranked 200 jobs from best to worst based on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. To compile its list, the firm primarily used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies. From a software engineer to a lumberjack, see the complete list

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The late BJ printer Gene McClellan's two daughters, son and two grandsons joined Gene's former co-workers at the BJ for the monthly BJ retirees lunch at Papa Joe's on Wednesday, April 11.

Gene's daughters are Eric, from San Luis Obispo, California, and Tracy, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. His son is Dean, who has lived in Japan for 25 years. Dean brought along his two sons, Jacob and Arthur, who are Gene's grandsons.

Gene's former co-workers at the lunch were retired printers Al Hunsicker and Carl Nelson and newsroom escapees Tom Moore, Harry Liggett and John Olesky.

Gene's children told his former co-workers about the Gene they knew. Gene's former co-workers told his children about the Gene they knew. Pretty much the same guy, just from different viewpoints.

Tracy spent a few months in Japan living with Dean "during my free spirit years." Now she's a consultant for companies' Human Resources departments. Tracy's husband Ken is a chemical engineer.

Erin is the owner of Sprigs, a florist and floral designer business that she's been running for 12 years.

Dean is a civilian employee of a U.S. base in Japan. His wife is Michio.

Gene's wife of 30 years, Christine, survives. So do three brothers.

The children are hoping to sell the vintage Fiero, truck and motorcycle that Gene and brother Richard McClellan of Mogadore have revived.

McClellan died March 19. He was born Dec. 6, 1938. Gene had attended 87 of the past 88 monthly BJ retirees lunches.The only one he missed was in January 2010 when a snowstorm kept everyone away from Papa Joe's.

Click on the headline to see photos of the tribute lunch for Gene and earlier Gene appearances at BJ retirees lunches.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Retired Beacon Journal printer Gina White, wife of former Composing honcho Dave White, explains how the ball got rolling that led to the BJ signing a settlement to restore health care costs to retirement day levels, or better, for printers who retired in 1992 or earlier and for Guild retirees who left the BJ in 1997 or earlier.

The Whites live in Venice, Florida after residing for a couple of decades in Sarasota, not all that far from where the late printer Bill Gorrell had his Siesta Key rentals just off the beach where Dave worked at Island House Condominium on Crescent Beach.

Gina's email:

Dave met Lou Smith at the Island House Condominium in the early 90's where he was working as grounds manager. Lou was a condo owner and every year when he would come down, he and Dave would mess around together.

So now, every year at Christmas, we send Lou several bottles of 1905 salad dressing from the Columbia Restaurant at St. Armand's and he sends a pointsettia.

When we needed an attorney's advice and help on the lawsuit, we called Lou to see if anything could be done. He referred us to his "labor law" expert, Allen Anderson. This was in 2005 when the BJ first started messing with us. Of course, there was nothing that we could do then.

Then 4 years ago, in another conversation with Allen, he informed us that there had been some judgments in these type of cases that might be favorable to us.

And, then you know the rest of the story.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Allen Anderson, of the Michigan law firm, got the Chandra law firm of Cleveland involved. The first ruling from Judge David Dowd came in 2009. The settlement was signed in March by attorneys for the printers and Guild retiree John Olesky and by Beacon Journal publisher Andrea Mathewson and BJ Welfare Retirement Plan Administrator Aaron Burr.

Judge Dowd has 30 days to decide whether to accept the settlement. Retired printers and Guild retirees covered by the settlement will be notified by the Beacon Journal as to how to file their reimbursement claims. Both retiree groups will be issued prescription cards that will reduce their co-pays to $2 to $5, depending on the amount in effect on their retirement days, and will be put in a special non-Aetna health care group that will pay -- after a modest annual deductible -- all or nearly all of their medical costs until they die. The Beacon Journal will pay the attorneys' fees for the retired printers and Olesky, which is $772,500.

Click on the headline to read earlier BJ Alums blog articles on the health care lawsuits.

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Retired printer Gene McClellan, 73, who died March 19, was the most faithful attendee at the BJ retirees lunch at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Papa Joe's Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension. He attended 87 to the past 88 monthly lunches (NO ONE was there for the January 2011 lunch because of a massive snowstorm).

Wednesday -- April 11 -- will be our first lunch without Gene, so the lunch will be in memory of Gene. If any of Gene's friends and former co-workers want to join us in honoring him, just show up at 1 p.m. Wednsday and ask for the BJ lunch bunch. We'll exchange tales about Gene, his penchant for restoring vintage cars and motorcycles, and whatnot.

Gene's daughter, Erin of San Luis Obispo, California, plans to attend. Other family members also may be there.

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Gannett Blog
This February Gannett said it would offer buyouts to employees in its newspaper division. In a memo to staff then,
Bob Dickey, who is head of the company’s U.S. community publishing
division, said that 785 people met the qualifications for the buyouts
(employees over 56 with 20 years at the company) but that only 665
people would receive the offer, which he said was “designed to be as
attractive as or better than others in the industry.” The memo set a
45-day deadline for employees to accept.

Jim Hopkins of the Gannett Blog is tracking the buyout offers
by property, the number of employees initially offered buyouts (594
total by his count), the number the company will actually grant, and the
number that have been accepted. For instance: At the Jackson, Miss.,
Clarion-Ledger, which Hopkins recently called “an especially traumatized newsroom, even by Gannett standards,” 12 buyouts have been initially offered, 11 in the newsroom.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

In a March 14 commentary on the BJ Alums blog I wrote how Aetna Medicare/Beacon Journal sidestepped the effects of Obamacare reducing prescription donut hole brand-name co-pays from 100% to 50% -- by charging me five times as much BEFORE I get into the donut hole for some drugs. In my case, Aetna/BJ charges me $180 more for my co-pays on 9 months of 1 prescription drug than it did last year. Once I hit the donut hole, and the 50% discount kicks in via Obamacare, Aetna/BJ will be charging me $150 less for my co-pays for the remaining 3 months. Thus, Aetna Medicare/BJ actually makes MORE money in 2012 than in 2011, despite the reduction.

Thank you for getting in touch with me regarding the Medicare Part D coverage gap (also known as the “donut hole”).

Most Medicare prescription drug plans have a coverage gap or “donut hole.” After you and your plan have spent a certain amount of money for covered drugs, you are stuck having to pay all costs out-of-pocket for your drugs (up to a limit). The “Explanation of Benefits” notice, which you should receive every month in the mail from your drug plan when you fill a prescription, will tell you how much you’ve spent on prescription drugs and whether you’ve entered the “donut hole.”

In 2009, roughly 156,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Ohio hit the “donut hole” and received no extra help to defray the cost of their prescription drugs. Thanks to our new health reform law — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) — Medicare beneficiaries who hit the “donut hole” in 2010 were automatically mailed a one-time tax-free $250 rebate check, as long as they were not already receiving “Medicare Extra Help.” Ohio Medicare beneficiaries — more than 97,332 Ohio seniors — received their $250 check in 2010.

In addition to the rebate checks, our new health law will continue to provide additional discounts for seniors on Medicare in the years ahead. In 2011, Medicare beneficiaries who enter the “donut hole” will receive a 50 percent discount on their brand name prescription drugs. This discount will increase each year until 2020, when health reform will completely close the “donut hole.” The nearly 185,000 seniors who hit the "donut hole" have saved almost $95 million last year. In addition, effective January 2011, preventive services (such as colonoscopies and mammograms) will be free for Medicare beneficiaries. There will no longer be copayments or deductibles for these types of services.

If you have any additional questions about the rebate checks, or any other Medicare issue, please visit www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE. Thank you again for getting in touch with me regarding this important issue.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown United States Senator------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notice that Senator Brown, or his office people, sidestepped the issue of Aetna/BJ defeating the spirit of the Obamacare requirement to only charge me 50% for brand-name drugs when I hit the donut hole by charging me more for brand-name AND some generic drugs BEFORE I hit the donut hole. As their bean-counters figured out, Aetna/BJ is out less money in 2012 with Obamacare than in 2011 without Obamacare. And Obamacare advocates get to brag about "saving" me the 50% co-pay on brand name drugs after I hit the donut hole.

Everybody wins, except us.

Click on the headline to see my original commentary on this bait-and-switch-like tactic to obey the new law but get the old, even better returns financially for Aetna/BJ.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Nicholas Reswow was a man who loved his family and the new country that he made his home more than 60 years ago.

He died Monday at his Detroit home at the age of 93, a month shy of his 94th birthday.

Born in Pensa, Russia, on May 1, 1918, he was the youngest of five children and left school at the age of 8 to work on his father's farm and later worked for the district's phone company. He was drafted into the Red Army at the age of 18 and was taken prisoner by the Germans during World War II. He escaped and worked as a mechanic for the U.S. Army at a Munich displaced person camp where he met and married Nadejda Silos, a seamstress.

The couple, carrying a suitcase apiece, immigrated to the United States, sailing past the Statue of Liberty and their names appear on Ellis Island logs. They traveled to Versailles, Ky., where their U.S. sponsor, World Church Services, found them work on a horse farm belonging to a state legislator. Nicholas worked as a farmhand and his pregnant wife worked as a nanny, caring for the horse farm owner's young child.The Tolstoy Foundation then helped the family move to Goshen, N.Y., where Nicholas found work on an apple farm. His wife's relatives, who also arrived in the United States, heard of job opportunities in Detroit and they moved to Michigan.

Nicholas and his father-in-law worked for many years at the Silvercup Bakery. On Saturday mornings, he would walk his children to Russian school at the Orthodox church. After the bakery closed its doors, he found a job with the Detroit Public Libraries as a handyman in their maintenance department. Many discarded books found their way from the garbage bins to his bookcase at his Detroit home, where he and his wife nurtured the love of reading to their children. He was proud of his four children, who all finished college.

Nicholas took English classes and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. applying for and receiving a passport.

When he retired from the Detroit Public Libraries, he loved to take the bus to Vic Tanny, swimming and exercising five days a week. He loved to read books in Russian. A self-taught musician, he played the balalaika, a Russian instrument. A video of him playing the balalaika in 2009 appears on YouTube. (Feb 08 2009 VID00028)

He never owned a car. He frequently rode his bicycle to his daughter's home some two miles away, until he turned 88 and started carrying a cane. He loved playing pool with his great-grandkids and spending time with his two dogs, Rasputin and Katya. A tinkerer, he enjoyed repairing old equipment, like lawn mowers.

A member of St. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral, he helped with bingo nights, visiting the elderly and sick at hospitals and nursing homes and later with making pierogi with his daughter, Vera Brewer and her husband, Deveran, as a fund-raising effort for the west side church. Prostate cancer and heart problems slowed him down during the past several years and he was lovingly cared for by his youngest son, John, during the past year.

His wife, Nadejda, died in 1994. In addition to his daughter Vera Brewer (Deveran) of Grosse Pointe Park and son John of Old Greenwich, Conn., he is survived by daughters Olga (Bruce) Griffin of Wadsworth, Ohio, and Luba (Dr. Donald) Miller of Shawnee, Kansas; sister-in-law Vera Glush and husband Nicholas of Detroit; grandchildren Tanya (Mark) Dely of Germantown, Tenn., Andrew Brewer of Grosse Pointe, Mich.; Byron Brewer of Atlanta, Ga., Natalie (Andrew) Delmege of Arlington, Va; Will Miller of San Francisco, Ben Miller of Corpus Christi, Texas, Anne Miller of Shawnee, Kansas, Andrew Reswow of Boston, Mass., and Sarah Reswow of Old Greenwich, Ct.; and great-grandchildren, Nicholas, Gregory, Catherine and John Theodore of Germantown, Tenn., and Abigail and Thomas Arthur of Arlington, Va.

Funeral services Friday at St. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral are being handled by the Salowich and Stevens Funeral Home (3833 Livernois Ave, Detroit, Mich. 48210.) Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Monday, April 02, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A group of powerful business leaders announced Monday they have closed a deal to purchase Philadelphia's two largest newspapers from hedge funds for approximately $55 million, a fraction of what investors paid for them in 2006.

The Philadelphia Inquirer was a Knight newspaper from 1969-2006.

The buyers, who include cable TV mogul H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, powerful New Jersey Democrat George Norcross III and former New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz, said they plan to keep the newspapers' tradition of strong journalism alive in the digital age.

They had an exclusive option to bid for Philadelphia Media Network, which also operates the Philly.com website and a weekly sports publication.

The purchase price — which includes up to $10 million from investors to fund operations — is less than 15 percent of the $515 million paid by a group of investors in 2006, and far less than the $139 million creditors paid at a 2010 bankruptcy auction.

"These newspapers have an historic tradition of outstanding journalism in our city and we want to preserve that tradition and marry it to the exciting digital opportunities that are revolution the news business," Katz said in a statement released before the scheduled news conference Monday morning.

The buyers established a new company, Interstate General Media LLC, to operate Philadelphia Media Network.

The sale comes as Philadelphia Media Network has announced plans to cut 45 positions this month, including 40 in the newsroom. Last year, the newsrooms lost 20 jobs.

It seemed fitting that the post-funeral reception for retired printer Gene McClellan felt like a monthly lunch at Papa Joe's Restaurant. -- despite the DJ and music and dozens of people at the Ancient Order of Hiberians Mark Heffernan Division social club at 2000 Brown Street in Akron,

Dave Cummings, a former composing room employee who was the only remaining printer still setting ads till his recent retirement, was there talking about Gene's penchant for bringing vintage cars back to life. So was Tom Moore, newsroom retiree. And John Olesky, another newsroom retiree.

Tom and John and Gene were regulars at the monthly BJ retirees lunch at Papa Joe's on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension. Gene was the most faithful attendee -- 88 of the 89 most recent monthly lunches. Tom is off to Florida in October and November every year to handle Roy Hobbs World Series daily newspapers for the older amateur baseball players to read about themselves. John is off to one of 50 countries and 43 states he's visited. So both missed Papa Joe's lunches. But not Gene.

Dave, Tom and John got to meet Gene's daughters, Erin of San Luis Obispo, California and Tracy of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and son Dean, who lives in Japan (he was there in the service and liked it so well he never left, maybe because his wife is Japanese).

And Gene's brother, Richard, who lives in Mogadore and was Gene's co-conspirator in reviving vintage cars. Gene had as many as five autos -- one a Porsche -- and a motorcycle in his two garages for the McClellan brothers to work on.

Gene A. McClellan, 73, of Mogadore, born Dec. 6, 1938 to the late Earl and Eileen McClellan, passed away March 19.

Nicholas Reswow, father of Beacon Journal copy editor Olga Reswow, died
this morning at his Detroit home. He would have been 94 on May 1.
Funeral arrangements at Salowich & Stevens Funeral Home in Detroit
are incomplete.

John Backderf, staff artist-cartoonist for the Plain Dealer from 1986-89 and for the Beacon Journal from 1990-1999, will talk at the April 18 Main Event Speaker Series of the Akron-Summit County Library at the main library, 60 South High Street.

The Richfield native and Ohio State graduate will discuss his new book, "My Friend Dahmer," as in serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Derf's classmate in their junior high days in Bath and in Revere High School.

Derf's comic strip, "The City," first appeared in The Cleveland Edition in 1990. Today it's in Cleveland Scene and more than 100 weekly papers. He has a ton of awards for his work.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Gene A. McClellan, 73, of Mogadore, Ohio, born December 6, 1938 to the late Earl and Eileen McClellan, passed away March 19 2012 and is now with his Lord.

His three
adult children, (Dean, Tracy, and Erin); his wife of 30 years,
(Christine); three older brothers, (Robert, Richard, and Wayne); two
grandchildren, (Arthur and Jacob); many nieces and nephews, friends, and
former co-workers at The Akron Beacon Journal survive Gene.

Additionally,
Gene was a printer at The Akron Beacon Journal for over forty years. He
was quick to make friends and he had many outside interests that kept
him busy along with raising a family. He enjoyed tinkering on cars and
motorcycles, being outdoors, especially playing in the garden, spending
time with his family, enjoying life, and staying positive. Moreover, his
mottos were: "I am good, great, kind, wonderful, sweet, charming, and
adorable" and "I am healthy, strong, young, powerful, loving,
harmonious, successful, and happy." He was all of those and so much
more. He also liked to quote John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Thus, Gene will be warmly missed by all of his family and friends, and
we rejoice in his everlasting life.

Public viewing from 9:30 to
10:30 a.m. Monday, April 2, 2012, at Hopkins Lawver Funeral Home, 547
Canton Rd., Akron, OH 44312, where funeral service will follow at 10:30
a.m., Pastor Rich Ferris officiating. Private interment will be held at
Ellet Cemetery. Friends may join in celebrating Gene following the
services Monday, from 12:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hibernian Social Club,
2000 Brown Street, Akron, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be
made on the behalf of Gene A. McClellan to Mogadore High School.